Greg Jefferson: Primary protected

A judge moved to keep the Bexar Democratic primary on track during an injunction hearing last week.

A group of 30 party activists sued county Chairman Rudy Casias in September and won a temporary restraining order two weeks ago. The order had required Casias to accept a primary committee appointed by the County Executive Committee, which is made up of elected precinct chairs.

But Senior District Judge Pat Priest ruled Friday that the committee appointed by Casias to oversee preparations for the March 7 primary can stay on the job.

“For (a CEC-appointed committee) to take control now would have been disruptive to the primary,” said attorney Lauro Bustamante, who’s representing Casias.

The temporary order also gave the executive committee the final say over the hiring of election judges and the selection of voting systems for primary — tasks the county election department had already carried out. Worried that the order could throw the primary into chaos, county officials intervened in the case.

But Ruperto Garcia, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said his clients had agreed prior to Friday’s hearing not to do anything that would disrupt the primary.

“We were nervous about the primary,” Garcia said, “so we came to an agreement.”

Meanwhile, Priest ordered Casias, who is not seeking re-election and will leave office in early May, to hand over financial records to the CEC by May 1.

He also called for rules that the executive committee ratified in December to be sent to the state party for adoption. The rules require the chairman to meet the CEC monthly and bars the chairman for spending on items not included in a CEC-approved budget — two points of contention in the lawsuit.